


The Beast Below - Chapter One

by AnorakTheAllKnowing (orphan_account)



Series: The Beast Below [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-09-06 22:08:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20298706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/AnorakTheAllKnowing
Summary: In the summer of 1984, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a person's worst fear and preys on the children of Hawkins, their small Indiana town.





	1. The Paper Boat

Hawkins, Indiana, October 1983.

Holly Wheeler sits in her brother Mike's bedroom, staring through the window at the Autumn rain, a depressed look on her face.

"You promise I won't get in trouble?"

Mike looks at her from his bed, "You'll be fine Holls, I would come with you but unfortunately…" he coughs into his hand, "I'm dying."

"You're not dying."

"If you had seen what was coming out of my nose this morning you'd think I was."

Holly cringes, "Eww."

Mike laughs, "Exactly," he finishes the paper boat that she asked him to make, "Alright I need you to get the wax."

Holly's expression turns to one of fear as she looks at the door, "From the cellar?"

"Well yeah you want it to float don't you?"

She sighs, "Fine."

\---

She opens the door to the cellar, and walks down the steps, slowly and cautiously, having always been scared of their cellar.

She quickly moves through the room, searching the shelves for the wax, and finally, she finds it. She smiles, and walks over to grab it, when suddenly, she hears a noise.

She turns her head in the direction of the sound, and sees two white eyes staring back at her. She quickly grabs a flashlight from one of the shelves, and shines in it the direction of the eyes. The light reveals that the eyes are just two glass balls, and she breathes a sigh of relief. The sound happens again, and her little body tenses, she drops the flashlight, grabs the can of wax, and runs out of the cellar, slamming the door shut behind her.

\---

"Here you go," Mike says, having finished applying the wax and writing SS Holly on the side of the paper boat, "She's all ready."

"She?"

"Yeah, you uhm, you call boats she."

Holly smiles, "Thanks Mikey," and then hugs him before running out the room.

\---

Holly runs down the wet streets of Hawkins, wearing her pink raincoat, laughing as she chases her boat. However, she trips over and lands face first in the water, her boat carrying on without her. She lifts her head to see the boat go down a storm drain, out of her reach.

"No!" She gets up and runs to the storm drain, when she reaches it, she gets down on her hands and knees, and looks into the drain, "Oh Mike's gonna kill me."

Suddenly, a pair of eyes appear.

"Ahh!" Holly reels back in fear.

"Hiya Holly," the figure steps into the light, revealing himself to be a clown, a clown with a big red smile, a white face, orange hair, and brown eyes, the same as her brother's. He holds up her paper boat, "What a nice boat. Do you want it back?"

She gulps, "Uhm, yes please."

"You look like a nice girl, I bet you have a lot of friends."

"Three, my best is my brother."

"Where's he?"

"In bed, sick."

"I bet I could cheer him up, I could give him a balloon, do you want a balloon too Holly?"

"My mom says I'm not supposed to take things from strangers."

"Oh, well I'm Pennywise the Dancing Clown," he gestures to himself, "Pennywise," then to Holly, "Meet Holly, Holly," then back to himself again, "Meet Pennywise."

She lets out a little giggle.

"Now we aren't strangers, are we?"

She shrugs, "I guess not, what are you doing in the sewer?"

"Oh the storm blew me away, blew the whole circus away, can you smell the circus Holly? There's cotton candy, hot dogs, and popcorn," he loses his smile, and looks at the girl with an expressionless face, as if he's hungry.

Holly is now beyond creeped out, "Well, I should get going now."

"Oh," he holds the boat back up, "Without your boat?" He puts his smile back on, "Here," he says in a low whisper, "Take it," he says emphasising the t, "Take it Holly," his voice has become lower.

She reaches her hand in, and the clown's eyes turn yellow, like an animal's. Just as she's about to grab the boat, the clown pulls it away and grabs her wrist. His mouth opens wide, revealing huge jaws that he uses to bite deep into her arm.

She screams in pain as her arm is torn from her body. She falls back against the wet ground, and tries to crawl away, crying as she does, but the clown's arm reaches outside the drain, grabs her ankle, and pulls her towards him.

"Mikey!" She screams as she is pulled into the drain, her voice echoing in the tunnel. Outside the house just across from the drain, stands a woman, looking at the drain with an expression that signifies she is completely unaware of what just happened, even though she was watching.


	2. The Party

Eight months later…

June 1984, Hawkins Middle School.

Several students hurry through the school corridors, all desperate to get out for summer. Out of the science classroom comes four kids, walking together in a group.

"That was the most boring science lesson ever," Max states.

"Those lessons have gone to shit ever since Mr. Clarke left," agrees Mike.

"I don't know it wasn't that bad," Will says.

The other three look at him like he's a weirdo.

"Really?" Lucas asks.

"Yes, really."

Max looks to her left and sees with dread who they're walking past, "Shit heads up."

They walk past Billy and his cronies, Tommy H., Pete and Tyler each of them giving an evil grin as they walk past, Pete even licks his lips.

Lucas snorts, "Do you think they'll sign my yearbook, 'Hey Lucas, sorry for being such racist dickheads this year, and make sure to give the rest of your friends a massive fuck you from us.'"

Stacey barges past the group and angrily makes her way to the girls bathroom, where two of her minions are waiting for her. One of them points out the middle cubical, "In there," and Stacey kicks it.

Inside, Jane Hopper sits holding in a cigarette. She jumps at the sound of the door being kicked, "You in there slut? Why are you hiding? It's not like you're shy you little bitch!"

Jane rolls her eyes, "Christ's sake Stacey, am I a slut or a bitch?" She presses her cigarette against the cubical wall, "You really need to make up your mind because I'm kind of confused here."

"Your garbage," one of her friends pulls out the black bag out of the trash, goes in the cubical next to Jane's, and stands on the toilet seat, "We're just here to remind of that."

Jane looks up at Stacey's friend pours the contents of the bag over the wall, she quickly picks up her bag and holds it above her head, the trash completely soaking it. The girls laugh at their handiwork, "Come on girls, enjoy your summer vacation whore."

\---

Mike, Max, Lucas and Will stand outside the school throwing their school books into the bin, "Best. Feeling. Ever!" Lucas says happily.

"So what are we planning on doing tomorrow?" Will asks.

"I know what I'm doing," Max starts, "I gotta keep the winning score on Dig Dug."

"Really? That's how you want to spend your summer? In an arcade?"

"Beats spending it with the rest of you guys," she says smiling so he knows that she's kidding.

"Oh God," Lucas says, "Look," they all turn to see a woman waiting outside the school with two police officers, tears in her eyes.

"That Jennifer Hayes's mom," Mike confirms, "Is she really expecting her to just walk out the school?"

"Is she even still alive?" Will asks.

"Probably not," says Lucas, "She's most likely dead in a ditch somewhere."

Mike looks at Lucas, "She's not dead she's just missing."

Lucas looks back at him sadly, "Sorry Mike," he looks at Will, "She's just missing."

Suddenly, Mike gets pulled backwards by his bag, before he has a chance to see who's pulling him, he's thrown to ground. He looks up and sees Billy standing over him, "Watch your step, loser," Billy's friends laugh at his insult as they walk to his car.

Mike quickly gets up, an angry look on his face, "Fuck you Hargrove!"

"Mike!" Max warns. Billy and his gang turn around to face him, "What was that little Mikey?" Billy approaches him, "The only reason I left you alone this year was because of your sister, but now…" he looks over at one of the police officers, his father, who, fortunately, isn't looking.

He looks back to Mike, "This summer's going to be hell for you, and your freak friends," he spits in Mike's eye, who cringes and quickly wipes away the saliva. Billy and his gang carry on in the direction of his Camaro.

Mike's friends move to stand next to him, "You alright man?" Lucas asks.

Mike nods.

"Is it bad that I wish he would go missing?" Max asks.

"He's probably the one doing it," says Will.

\---

Inside the public library, Dustin Henderson sits by himself at a table. He looks outside the window and sees the Party riding past on their bikes.

BANG!

Dustin jumps in his seat and turns to see the book he had asked for on the table, the librarian standing next to it, "Here you go, 'The Entire History of Hawkins, Indiana.'"

Dustin smiles at her, "Thank you."

"Are you new in town? I've not seen you around."

"Yeah I moved here a couple weeks ago."

"Well," she pushes the book to him, "Welcome to Hawkins," and then walks away.

Dustin opens the book and flicks through the pages. One that catches his attention is a news article about the Brimborn Steel Mill explosion that happened in 1903 during an easter egg hunt, killing 88 people. He lands on a page with of the aftermath of the explosion, a group stand near the mill, looking up in terror at a tree. He turns the page, the picture gets closer to the tree, he turns, the picture gets closer, turns, closer, turns, closer, turns, closer, until finally, he sees what the people are looking at, on one of the branches is a child's severed head.

He slams the book shut, he's had enough of this freaky history lesson.

"Dusty," a whisper calls from behind him, he turns in his chair and sees a red balloon. He looks around at the other people, none of whom seem to know that the balloon is there. The balloon moves to an open door, "Dusty," he hears it again, and his curiosity gets the better of him. He moves towards the open door and sees a singed easter egg sitting in the doorway. He furrows his brow in confusion, what the hell is going on?

"Dusty," he hears it again, he enters the room and searches among the bookshelves for the source of the whisper, he comes across a staircase, "Hello?" No answer. Content that it's nothing, he turns around, but then:

Creak.

He turns back around.

Creak.

Something's coming down the stairs, something he can't yet see.

Creak.

Creak.

Creak.

Into view comes a pair of feet wearing old burnt shoes.

Creak.

Then legs moving in a creepy fashion.

Creak.

Then an upper body wearing old burnt clothes, clothes that look like they're from the 1900s, in his arms are several singed easter eggs.

Creak.

Dustin's eyes widen in horror, this person doesn't have a head. It turns in his direction, somehow looking at him without eyes. It drops the eggs it's holding and runs towards him.

Dustin quickly runs away from the figure, making his way back to the door.

"Eggboy," says a deep snarling voice, Dustin turns around to see that the figure now has a head, a clown's head. He turns back around and runs into the librarian, causing her to drop her books.

"What are you doing down here?!" She asks, frustrated.

Dustin, still breathing fast, turns around and sees that his pursuer is gone. He looks back at the librarian. She raises her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation. Instead of giving her one, he runs out the room.

\---

He exits the library, looking behind one last time to check nothing's chasing him, when he turns back around he sees Billy and his gang waiting for him, all three of them grinning.

Dustin frowns, "Son of a bitch."

He's so screwed.


	3. I ❤️ HAWKINS

Billy and his minions have taken Dustin into the woods, pushing and insulting him, before finally holding him against a tree, "Now what should we do with you?" Billy asks sadistically.

"Let me set his hair on fire," his friend Pete says, holding up a can of hairspray and a lighter, "like Michael Jackson," he sprays the can, creating a short burst of fire.

"Please, please, don't do anything, I promise I won't tell anyone," Dustin begs.

"I know what to do," Billy takes out a switchblade, pushes the blade out, and looks to Tommy, "hold his arm out."

His friend complies, Billy rolls up Dustin's sleeve, who realises what he's about to do, and tries pull his arm out of Tommy's grip, but can't.

Billy presses the knife into the boy's skin, and begins carving a letter into his flesh, Dustin screaming in pain the whole time. He sees a car drive past, "Help! Help!" The occupants of the car see what's happening, but drive on like normal, suddenly, the clown's head pops up in the backseat, staring at the boy.

"Jesus Christ Billy!" Tyler's voice brings Dustin's attention back to his attackers.

"Shut up! I'm gonna carve the whole word into this little piece of shit!"

Dustin decides that he's had enough, he kicks Billy in the nuts, causing the teenager to move back in pain, and spits in Tommy's face, who releases his arm, before running off.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER YOU'RE DEAD!" Billy screams.

The four bullies take off after him. Dustin runs faster than he ever has in his entire life, not daring to look back. He makes it out of the woods and runs along the riverbank.

"We split up," Billy says, "find him," they all split off in different directions. Pete exits the woods, and sees a large pipe into the sewer. He pulls out his can of hairspray and his lighter, and walks into the pipe, letting off small bursts of fire as a source of light.

"Where are you faggot? I know you're in here."

After turning a few corners, he hears a whisper, "This way Petey," he smiles, he's got him now. He turns a corner and the whisper sounds a lot closer, and different, "You found us Petey," he lets off a burst of fire, and to his horror, doesn't see Dustin, but several kids, all with zombified faces, smiling at him. He screams, drops the can and lighter, and runs off in a random direction. He runs down a path, but finds the way blocked by metal bars. He bashes and pulls on the bars, as if he can break through them, but inevitably, he can't.

"Petey," says a demonic voice from behind him. He turns around, and sees, a balloon floating towards him, he looks on in confusion as the balloon turns around, reading on the other side:

I ❤️ HAWKINS

It then pops, and there is Pennywise, blood around his mouth, looking like a feral animal. Pete screams, and Pennywise runs at him, jaws wide open, ready to devour him.


End file.
